KILLEEN — The path taken by Harker Heights resident Roshanda Prior, 46, to become a professional artist is paved with many different career experiences.

Prior sponsored the first public showing of her art Saturday at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center.

Leading up to Saturday’s event, she’s been a student at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a social worker for seven years, a Realtor for two years and a pediatric nurse for 12 years.

She holds a business degree and will soon earn a degree in fine arts with an emphasis in studio art from UMHB.

“This career change to art is a lifetime change for me,” she said. “It’s what I’ll be doing for the rest of my days. Last year the passion to be an artist enveloped me and I could not turn it down.”

Among the 50 Meet the Artist event attendees was Laurie Hardin of Nolanville, who has known Prior for seven years.

“I’m impressed by the texture of her work and how inspiration flows from the painting, bringing it to life, so to speak,” she said.

Prior’s artwork was displayed through a variety of mediums, including framed wall hangings, desk and wall calendars and coffee mugs.

Her art will eventually appear on items such as bedding, chairs, mirrors and adorn the walls inside homes, as she continues to design through her interior decorator business, Protocol for Design.

Her favorite medium is mixed media, which is a combination of different types of art, like paint on canvass mixed with items such as glass, wire, metal, wood to add texture in a single composition, Prior explained.

When she begins a project, Prior said she doesn’t always have a plan.

“It might have been something as simple as an inspirational thought I’ve read,” she said. “Give me my music and my paintbrush and I’m in another world. When the sunrise appears, there’s no telling what’s been created.”

Her travel goals for the remainder of the summer months are to attend at least one exhibit or trade show a month in places such as Dallas, New York, and Georgia.

“When you see my work, it is spiritual in nature and something that is meaningful,” she said. “I’m not interested in drawing apples or pretty trees.”